Coach For All Seasons The Three-sport High School Coach Works Long Hours And Doesn`t Get Paid Much, But Loves His Job Anyway.

April 3, 1991|By DAVE HEEREN, Staff Writer

Crime may or may not pay, depending on your point of view, but one thing is certain: It`s a crime how much high school coaches are paid.

Even when they coach three sports.

There aren`t many coaches who are dedicated enough to coach fall, winter and spring sports for Class 3A or 4A high schools. Three of those who do in Broward County are in agreement about two things:

-- They don`t get paid enough for the work they do.

-- They do it anyway because they love it.

Three-sport coaches are Mike Bobby of Coconut Creek, Joe Ray and John Tollenaar of Fort Lauderdale, and Allen Held and Bob Wood of Hallandale.

-- Bobby coaches girls` swimming in the fall, boys` soccer in the winter and girls` tennis in spring. But the Pompano Beach resident does not consider himself equally qualified in all three.

``I was pretty much brought in to teach physical education and coach soccer,`` Bobby said. ``Then you could say that for lack of interest (by other Coconut Creek staff members), I picked up the other two sports.``

For five years Bobby has been teaching and coaching soccer at Coconut Creek. He began coaching swimming two years ago and this is his first season as a tennis coach.

Counting all three sports, he totals his pay at $3,500. He spends 20 hours a week in practice or at games. Plus extra hours during one month when the tennis and soccer seasons overlap. Plus travel time and planning time.

He figures his pay at about $5 an hour.

``I do it because I very much enjoy coaching,`` he said. ``In all of my sports the kids are good kids. A highlight for me was when Peter Marino made All-County and All-State in soccer and then was MVP in a state all-star game.``

-- Wood and Held are an unusual twosome at Hallandale because they coach the same three sports. Both men are assistant football coaches and Wood is Held`s assistant in wrestling and baseball.

Held has played all three sports, so it wasn`t surprising when he got into coaching all three. Wood got into them in a more round-about way.

Wood started out as an assistant football and baseball coach. Wrestling was added later.

``I spent a lot of time in the weight room with the football players and from there I got into wrestling,`` he said.

He hasn`t bothered to figure out the pay. ``I just like to do this,`` he said. ``I don`t know the exact sum I get, but it isn`t a lot. You have to do it because you like to do it.``

Held knows what his pay is: It`s $4,950 for the three sports. He estimates his work load in coaching is at least 1,000 hours a year. So he`s making less than $5 an hour.

``That is close to minimum wage ($4.25 and hour),`` he said. ``If you are doing it for the pay, you shouldn`t be a coach.``

Then why does he do it?

``Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to be a teacher and a coach. At McNicol (Middle School) I had a coach, Bill Fiske, who really influenced me. I looked up to him.``

But coaching isn`t always enjoyable.

``There is burnout,`` Held said. ``Sometimes you have to change up and make things fun. But I love it. Coaching is something I have always wanted to do and that is why I am out here coaching three sports.``

-- Like Held and Wood, Tollenaar and Ray coach at the same school. But their paths seldom cross in the Fort Lauderdale High School corridors. Ray is the head football, wrestling and golf coach. Tollenaar coaches volleyball, girls` basketball and track.

Tollenaar earns $4,500 for his three sports and estimates his hours at about 1,100, which would make his pay a little more than $4 an hour.

``I coach because I enjoy being with the students outside of the academic area,`` he said. ``I teach mathematics, but you get closer to them when you are coaching.``

But coaching isn`t all fun. ``There are about three weeks, twice a year, when you have to be able to do two sports at the same time,`` Tollenaar said.

Ray came to Fort Lauderdale knowing he had the head football coaching job. He wanted to coach a spring sport too, asked for and got the golf job. He didn`t ask for the wrestling job. He got it because there was a vacancy and he had some experience in judo.

Judo and wrestling? Well, that`s close anyway.

One of Ray`s goals as a coach is to influence student-athletes to improve academically.

``A sad thing is how many kids and parents are misinformed about what it takes to play college athletics,`` said Ray, a Pompano Beach resident. ``They just think you will get a scholarship if you are a good athlete. But that is not necessarily true. You have to be a good student too.``

To Ray, coaching is a full-time job: ``It is more time-consuming than difficult. If we are not coaching, we are counseling kids for personal problems and helping them improve their academics. It is an all-day process from the minute you arrive at school until hours after you are home when you can finally unwind.``

Ray relieves mental stress with physical activity. He does a lot of running and lifting weights with his student-athletes.

``If you are just standing around, you could get burned out,`` he said.